Apr 13, 2023

Woodland Park Zoo

Sweeney

Following a nationwide search, Woodland Park Zoo named Roger Sweeney as its new chief zoological officer. Sweeney will join the zoo directly from North Carolina Zoo, where he is the director of animal management and welfare and a member of their senior management team. His first day at Woodland Park Zoo will be May 1.

The chief zoological officer is the reimagined and realigned role that was previously the chief operations officer, and was designed with an increased focus and call for extensive experience in animal care and project management. Sweeney will lead overall zoological operations in animal care, facilities and maintenance, exhibits, sustainability, and safety and security. Sweeney will support upcoming planning for the zoo's environmental sustainability, as well as a fresh look at the zoo's animal population sustainability. Sweeney's career in zoo leadership has spanned facilities around the world including the United States, Spain, Qatar, Barbados and the United Kingdom. Sweeney currently serves as an Association of Zoos & Aquariums inspector and the Asian Hornbill Saving Animals From Extinction program leader. He has served on numerous national and international animal care and conservation committees and advisory groups. Woodland Park Zoo is currently open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Washington Lottery Commission

Pettigrew

Gov. Jay Inslee named Eric Pettigrew to serve as director of the Washington State Lottery Commission, effective May 1, 2023. Pettigrew replaces Marcus Glasper, who left the position at the end of March to become director the Department of Licensing. Pettigrew is currently vice president of government relations & outreach at Seattle Kraken Hockey, a position he has held since 2019. Pettigrew has decades of experience in public service. From 2003 to 2021, he represented the residents of Washington's 37th legislative district in Washington's House of Representatives, including 10 years as caucus chair. During his tenure, he championed funding for economic development initiatives, community programs and public transit. He also secured key funding to bolster foster care programs, expand higher education opportunities for incarcerated individuals and to promote charter schools in his district. Pettigrew has served on a number of volunteer boards, including Rainier Vista and King County Boys and Girls Clubs, Greater Seattle Business Chamber, Edgar Martinez Foundation, ACT Theater Group, and the Pike Place Market Foundation. He currently serves on the boards of the United Way of King County, the Pacific Science Center, Casey Family Programs and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

Avalara

Avalara, a provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, appointed Sean Flynn as senior vice president of global sales. In his new role, Flynn will be responsible for leading go-to-market sales teams at Avalara, including new and existing sales, customer success, sales development, and solutions engineering. With more than 25 years of experience, Flynn has scaled businesses ranging from startups to established technology companies. He previously led global sales at IBM and held leadership roles at other private equity-backed companies, including as U.S. chief executive officer at Gympass and chief customer officer at InStride. Flynn also served as an armor officer in the U.S. Army, experience that will enhance Avalara's goal of recruiting and retaining military veterans. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Brazil, Europe, and India.

New owners at Schnitzer West

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Schnitzer West recently announced that co-founder Dan Ivanoff has sold a minority stake in the company to five partners in the firm, which is based here and in Denver. They are Pam Hirsch, Greg MacDiarmid, Tyna Fisher, Zeb Keck and Doug Zabel. Ivanoff said in a statement, “By expanding the ownership team to include Pam, Greg, Tyna, Zeb and Doug, we have positioned Schnitzer West with the optimal potential to realize perpetual, sustainable success. The team is currently managing more than $2 billion of capital investment and executing approximately 3.2 million square feet of development and investment activity.” Among those is the two-building Interval on Mercer project in Lower Queen Anne; the east building is pictured.

ULI to address office anxiety

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Is it time to panic yet? The office market continues its nationwide post-pandemic slump, as tech-firm layoffs and work-from-home continue to wreak havoc in cubicle-land. Seattle's office vacancy rate is still climbing, and leasing activity is down, down, down. In recent first-quarter reports, Kidder Mathews called the market “clearly struggling and highly volatile,” while Savills declared flatly, “Elevated availability may force landlords to pull back on face rental rates and increase concessions, as they seek to avoid vacancy-driven distress.” Thus a coming April 19 event from the Northwest chapter of the Urban Land Institute will be timely, if distressing. The title tells you everything you need to know, or already feel in your bones: “Adapting to an Uncertain Office Market.” The panel discussion will be at the downtown offices of MG2 (pictured). On hand will be Case Creal of Gensler, Kevin Eng of GLY Construction, Lori Hill of Unico Properties and Rico Quirindongo from the city's Office of Planning and Community Development. Details and registration: northwest.uli.org.

Tarragon signs big tenant in Sumner

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Down in Sumner, Tarragon's ongoing SeaPORT development could total some 2.7 million square feet in seven buildings. All of the fairly new Building 5 was recently claimed by Allen Distribution, which will have 293,000 square feet with 40-foot clear heights. The developer's Dennis Rattie said in a statement, “They are an industry leader in the food and beverage space, and we're honored to support Allen Distribution's future growth and development.” The family-owned distributor is based in Pennsylvania, and Sumner represents its entry to our market. Its brokers were Billy Moultrie and Kimberly Jacobsen at Lee &Associates. Representing Tarragon were CBRE's John Gilliland and John Sullivan. Nelson was the architect, and Sierra the builder.

McLennan joins Pierce County board

McLennan

The Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County has elected a new member. That would be industrial broker Matt McLennan of Kidder Mathews, the firm recently announced. He said in a statement, “I am honored and excited to begin this new journey. I've always held our EDB in high regard and applauded their spirit in attracting businesses to our local community. I look forward to lending my expertise from the real estate perspective to further advance the mission.”

Retail planned in Kitsap

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A little north of Kitsap Mall and Highway 3, Cascadia Senior Living recently developed the 189-unit Fieldstone senior community, which offers both assisted living and memory care. Cascadia is led by Justin Younker and Doug Ellison, who are now adding a retail component nearby: Cascadia Pointe. The four-building complex will be developed immediately south of Fieldstone. Steve Ruggiero of First American Properties is the broker, and he recently announced new tenants: Starbucks, Indigo Urgent Care and Dave's Hot Chicken, which is making its debut in our state. (It'll share a building with Starbucks.) Ruggiero said in a statement, “Not only are we bringing established brand names to the greater Kitsap marketplace, we also have the ability to accommodate a badly needed hotel or campus development.” Two buildings remain unclaimed, with 2,500 and 5,000 square feet. Completion is expected in the second quarter of next year.